Record shaving machine



May 24, 1938. c HUENLKZH ET L 2,118,202

RECORD SHAVINC- MACHINE Filed April 3, 1937 INVENTOR Charles Huenl lie/z. Salim/fix! El'lax Gramann aTTORN EY Patented May 24, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Max Gramann, Orange, N. J.,

assignors to Thomas A. Edison, Incorporated, West Orange, N. J., a. corporation of New Jersey Application April 3, 1937, Serial No. 134,724

14 Claims.

This invention relates to machines for shaving sound records, and more particularly to the control of the record-engaging tool for performing the shaving operation.

Sound record cylinders are made of wax-like material and when used in connection with business phonographs, it is customary, after dictated material has been recorded on the cylinder and the record transcribed, to resurface the cylinder by shaving off the outer surface portion thereof so as to prepare it for receiving a new record thereon. Such a cylinder is commonly referred to as a used record, but it is also customary to shave off the outer surface portion of a new cylinder to provide the same with a smooth properly prepared surface to be recorded upon. Therefore, the term record as used herein connotes a Wax or other tablet having a surface either adapted to receive and bear or already bearing a sound track.

The resurfacing operation, as ordinarily performed, involves the use of a machine having a shaving knife which is mounted on a carriage and is adapted to traverse a rotatably mounted record cylinder while held in operative relation with respect thereto. Means are provided for moving the knife to and looking it in an operative or set position Within fixed limits so that it will take a cut of desired depth as the cylinder is rotated; and also for retracting the knife from operative position upon the unlocking thereof. In certain types of shaving machines the locking of the knife in set position is incidental to the operation of bringing the knife to such position, and

these operations are effected by a single actuation of an operating lever or member. For example, such machines are disclosed in Edison Patent No. 465,972, dated December 29, 1891, and Schiffl Patent No. 1,174,292, dated March 7, 1916. However, in such prior art machines there are certain disadvantages inherent in the constructions employed for moving'the shaving knife to and locking the same in operative position and for subsequently effecting the retraction of said knife to inoperative position. One such disadvantage is that when the knife is secured in operative position it is urged or biased towards the cylinder by a spring comprising part of the knife adjusting and controlling means, with the result that the knife, immediately upon being released or unlocked, moves or surges forward against the cylinder under the action of said spring. This forward movement of the knife before its retraction from set or operative position is objectionable in that it is likely to result in gouging or mutilating the record and also in damaging the knife itself.

It is an object of the present invention to provide for a machine of the character described an improved shaving knife adjusting and controlling 5 means, whereby forward movement of the knife upon the release thereof when in operative position is effectually prevented.

Another object of the invention is to provide in such a machine a construction which will retain the knife locked in operative position until such time as the forward bias thereon is rendered ineffective and the means for retracting said knife to inoperative position becomes effective.

Another object of the invention is to provide a shaving machine construction whereby the results just described are attainable and wherein the adjustment of the knife to operative position and the locking thereof in such position are effected by a single manipulation and preferably also wherein the release or unlocking of the knife. and the retraction thereof to inoperative position are likewise effected by a single manipulation.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a shaving machine having the features of automatic adjustment of the knife with respect to the record cylinder, locking the knife in adjusted position and delaying the release of the knife until all forward bias thereon has been overcome and the means for retracting the knife to inopera- 30 tive position is ready to function.

Other objects and features of the invention will be hereinafter more fully described and claimed.

In order that our invention may be more clearly understood, attention is directed to the accompanying drawing forming a part of the specification, and in which Figure 1 is a plan view of a record resurfacing machine to which the invention has been applied;

FigureZ is a cross sectional View taken along the line 2-2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary cross sectional view taken along line 3-3 of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a side elevational view, partly in section, showing the knife in a set position;

Figure 5 is a view similar to Figure 4 but with some of the parts shown in different positions; and

Figure 6 is a perspective View of a cam which comprises part of the mechanism for controlling the knife.

Referring to Figure 1 of the drawing, the shaving machine therein illustrated comprises a base plate I having left-hand standards 2 and 3, righthand standards 4 and 5 and an intermediate 55 standard 6. A conically pointed stud I is provided in the standard 2 for engaging a recess in the left end of a shaft 8, thus providing a thrust bearing for said shaft end. The shaft 8 passes through an oversized hole 9 in the standard 6 and a collar H secured thereon prevents the shaft from being completely disengaged from the stud I. The shaft 8 comprises a portion of a mandrel l2 onto which may be slid a sound record A into frictional engagement therewith, by virtue of the mandrel l2 and the bore of the record A being complementarily tapered. The construction described retains the mandrel in an approximate position only; to maintain the same in proper position during rotation thereof, a supporting means is provided which is removably associated with and adapted to engage the free end of the mandrel l2. This supporting means comprises a swinging end-gate l3 carrying an adjustable conical stud i4 adapted to engage a recess in the adjacent end of the mandrel l2. pivoted to a boss [5 on the base plate I and is closed, as illustrated in Figure 1, by clockwise movement about its pivot until its fwrward extremity impinges against the right-hand extremity of a guide-rail IS, in which position it may be releasably held by a suitable lock l3. As this construction is well known in the art, being disclosed, for example, in the above mentioned Edison Patent No. 465,972, it is only conventionally illustrated here. Suffice it to say that when the gate I3 is moved to closed position, the mandrel i2 is wholly supported by the studs 1 and M for rotation about a fixed axis and without appreciable end play. When thus supported, the mandrel I2 is in true parallel relation with the guiderail I6 and a record thereon may then be rotated for resurfacing. The driving means for rotating the mandrel l2 usually includes a motor (not shown) within a cabinet for the base plate I and adapted to drive, by means of a belt H, a pulley l8 secured to the shaft 8. To accommodate the belt I! there is provided in the base plate a suitable slot.

In resurfacing a record cylinder by a machine of the character illustrated, a thin outer surface layer is removed from the cylinder by means of a record-engaging tool illustrated herein as a knife 20. The knife 20 is secured to the end ofabar 2| which is adjustably positioned in a boss 22 formed upon ,a movable arm or carriage 23. The carriage 23 is slidably and tiltably mounted on a rod 24, the latter being disposed behind and parallel to the mandrel shaft 8 and suitably secured to the standards 2 and 4. The arm 23 is approximately semicircular in side elevation and is provided with a smooth flat under-surface (see Figure 2) at its forward extremity. A weight 25,

formed integrally with the arm 23, provides a' convenient handpiece normally maintaining the said under-surface in contact with the top surface of the guide rail l6. By this arrangement it will be seen that the arm 23 may be tilted so as to bring the knife 20 to engaging or disengaging position with respect to the surface of the record cylinder A.

The carriage 23, including its associated parts, is designed to traverse the record surface during rotation thereof. This is accomplished by providing a feed screw 21 parallel to the carria ge rod 24 and journalled on standards 3 and 5. The feed screw 21 is rotated during rotation of the man- 'drel [2 by means of a belt 28 engaging a pulley 29 secured to said screw and a driving pulley The gate !3 is- 3| is arranged to engage the feed screw 27 when the arm 23 rests on the guide rail l6 and to disengage said feed screw when the arm is raised. The feed nut 3| is secured to the carriage 23 by a resilient extension 32 carried by a sleeve portion provided on the carriage. It will, therefore, be understood that when the knife 20 is in operative position and the mandrel I2 is rotated, the carriage 23 and hence the knife 2!) will move steadily longitudinally of the cylinder from right to left, thus taking a uniform cut from. the outer portion of the cylinder. For disposing of the shavings cut from the record cylinder there is provideda chip chute 33 leading to a suitable receptacle (not shown) within the cabinet.

The construction described above is old in the art, the present invention, as already stated, being directed to improvements in the knife adjusting and controlling means. These improvements will now be described, reference being made to such prior art constructions as may be helpful to a clear understanding of the invention.

A problem to workers in this art has been to so adjust the record engaging tool or shaving knife as to obtain a proper depth of out, i. e., a cut that is neither too deep nor too shallow. This requires that the knife be adjusted to proper position and locked in that position. As hereinbefore indicated, constructions have been proposed for effecting the knife adjusting and locking operations by a single manipulation or actuation of a lever or other member, such, for example, as the constructions disclosed in the aforesaid Edison and Schifil Patents Nos. 465,972 and 1,174,292..

Also a single manipulation of such lever or member in a reverse direction first effected the release of the knife and thereafter its retraction to inoperative position.

In such shaving machine constructions, however, the knife has been adjusted or moved to operative position by or through a setting spring and when locked in operative position was biased by such spring in a direction towards the record cylinder. Consequently, when the knife was unlocked, it took an undesirable forward movement or surge under the action of said setting spring prior to its retraction to inoperative position. To avoid this difficulty some means should therefore be provided to restrain the knife against the forward urge or bias of its setting spring until in the operations of unlocking the knife and returning it to inoperative position, the knife retracting means commences to retract or is ready to commence retracting the knife. Our invention provides a construction embodying such restraining means.

Referring to the drawing, the knife bar 2| is slidably mounted in an opening 35 which extends through the boss 22. A guide rod 35, located to one side of and parallel to the knife bar 2!, is threaded into and extends from the boss 22. rod 36 extends through a sleeve 3'! secured in the upper end portion of said boss by a forced fit therewith, and also extends loosely through an opening 38 in a block or bridge piece 39 through which the upper end portion of the knife-bar likewise extends. The knife bar 2|, however, is secured tothe bridge piece 39 so as to move therewith. A strong coiled compression spring 40 is disposed about the guide rod 35 between the bridge piece 39 and a head 36" provided on the upper end of said rod. The head 36 has a slot to enable the rod 36 to be readily applied to and removed from the boss 22 by the use of a screw driver or the like. The lower portion of the ag ng-202 recess preferably intersecting the axis of the knifebar 2! as clearly'shown in Figure 3. Slidably disposed within the recess 4| is a cylindrical stud pin 42 constituting-a, clamping member and having a cylindrical transverse opening '43 through which the :knife bar 2| extends. Opening 43 is slightly larger in. diameter than the 'knife'b-ar so that when the two are-concentrically positioned the knife bar may slide freely in said opening. The left-hand portion of member 42 (as viewed in Figure 3), which is of reduced diameter and threaded, extends outwardly from the boss 22 a considerable distance. A cylindrically headed nut 44 is threaded onto the outer end portion of member 42, the head of said nut being adjacent the side of the boss 22. An actuating lever 45 is provided at its inner end with two spaced flanges 45 and 41 by means of which such lever is pivotally mounted on the reduced portion of nut 44. A split locking block 48 is adjustably clamped on nut 44 between the flanges 45 and -41 of the lever 45, by means of a screw 54 threaded through opposed sections 49 and 55 of said block.

A cam 52 is loosely mounted on the nut 44, and a torsion spring 5| having its intermediate portion disposed around the head of said nut and the ends thereof respectively engaging an opening in the adjacent portion of the boss '22 and the under face 53 of said cam, normally urges the latter in a clockwise direction. The cam 52 carries a laterally extending pin 54 engagable by the lever 45, and when so engaged .is adapted to transmit movement of said lever to the locking block 48. Considerable lost motion is provided for between the parts just mentioned. For instance, when the lever 45 is turned counterclockwise or forwardly from the position shown in Figure 2 to effect the setting or adjustment of the knife 25, it moves freely until its turned-over edge '45 ongages the pin 54; thereafter it moves the pin 54, the cam 52 and the locking block 48, the -pin 54 being positioned between and then in engagement with both the said edge 45 and the upper face 43' of the locking block.

It will be seen that the first part of such movement of cam 52 effects the release or disengagement of a roller 56 mounted upon the bridge piece 39 from a dwell 52" provided at one end of the cam surface 52', thus permitting forward movement of the knife bar 2| under the action of the spring 45 in the continued forward movement of lever 45 and cam 52. When the lever 45 has completed its forward or counterclockwise movement, all of the parts controlled thereby will have assumed the positions shown in Figure 4, in which the knife bar 2| is shown set and locked in operative position to shave a record A. As shown in this figure, the pin 54 is then slightly spaced from the face 48 of locking block 48 because "of the retractive force exerted upon the cam 52 by the torsion spring 5|. Full retraction of the cam 52, however, is prevented by virtue of the engagement of a spring-pressed locking pawl 58 with a notch 59 provided in the edge of said cam (see Figures 4 and 6). When the cam 52 is thus held by the locking pawl 58, it is cocked or preconditioned to retract further immediately upon its release. To cause the release of the cam 52, and thereafter unlock the knife bar 2| and effect the retraction of the knife and associated parts to their normal positions, as shown in Figure '2, mechanism is'employe'd which will now bede'scribed.

The fiange 41 of lever His-provided with-a cam surface 60 adapted to contact a pin 6| on the -pawl 58. The rearend or heel'fl of the'leve'r'45 is adapted to engage the adjacent surface 48 of the locking block 48 when said lever is moved rearwardly or in a clockwise direction a considerable distance,ashereinafter more fully explained. During the beginning-or early part of such movement of lever =45 the camsur'faceill engages the pin 5| and thereby rele'a'ses thepawl'58 (see Figure 4) thus effecting the release of the cooked cam 52. Thereupon, the cam 52 immediately 'snaps bac'k and-comes to rest in a position where its eccentric surface 52' bears against the roller 56 on 'the br-idge "piece 35, as shown in Figure 5, thus providing "a supporting means beneath the bridge piece 39 which will prevent the-spring 40 from causing the knife bar 2|, upon the unlocking 'thereof,'to move forward from its operative position. It is not until a considerable further rearward movement of the lever 45 that the heel 52 thereof engages and turns the locking block 48 rev'ersely to unlock thereby the knife bar 2|, 7

this lost motion assuring the release of the cooked cam 52 and the movement thereof to restraining position with respect to the knife bar, If the knife bar were not thus restrained u on being unlocked when in operative position, it would surge forward and go'uge'th'e rec'or'd "cylinder A.

The operation of that embodiment of our in vention herein specifically disclosed, may 'be briefly described as follows:

With the parts positioned as show-n in Figures land 2, a record cylinder A is mounted on the mandrel -'|2 and the end-gate I3 is locked in closed position. The knife bar 2| is held in unset or inoperative position and the lever -45 is fully retracted. By a forward or counterclockwise movement of the lever '45 the dwell 52" in the eccentric surface 5-2 of the cam 52 is caused to disengage the roller 56 and the spring 40 moves the knife bar forwardly to bring the knife 25 into operative cutting position with respect to the cylinder A as above described. As the forward movement of the lever 45 continues the locking mechanism becomes effective and upon the completion of the movement of said lever, the knife bar 2| is locked in adjusted or set position and the pawl 58 engages the notch '59 of cam 52 to hold the latter in cocked condition. The knife 25 is then in operative position to shave the record when the latter is rotated by the mandrel l2. Upon the completion of the shaving operation, the mandrel I2 is stopped and the lever 45 is moved in a clockwise direction to effect the release of the knife bar 2| and the retraction thereof to inoperative position. As is obvious from the above description, the elements comprising the knife bar adjusting and controlling mechanism function in the reverse order to that followed in effecting the setting and locking of the knife bar. A summary of this order may be given as follows.

Upon the disengagement of the pawl 58 from the notch 59 effected by the cam surface 50, the cam 52, under the influence of spring 5|, snaps quickly rearwardly until its eccentric surface 52 engages the roller 56 and thereby provides a support adapted to prevent forward movement of the knife bar 2| under the urge of the spring 40. By thus overcoming the forward bias of the spring 40 on the knife bar prior to the release of the locking mech'anism,the restraining of the knife bar 2| from any forward movement whatever when the unlocking thereof is actually effected in the continued rearward movement of the lever 45, is assured. The rearward movement of said lever and of cam 52 is limited by a shoulder provided at the rear end of the eccentric surface 52' of the cam, coming in contact with a stop 10 secured by means of a screw H to the boss 22. The cam 52 is releasably held in this position by the engagement of the roller 55 with the shallow dwell 52 in the cam surface 52'. In its fully retracted position the knife bar is clear of the record cylinder but is conditioned to move toward the same as soon as the cam 52 is moved in a counterclockwise direction by the lever 45.

While we have described a preferred embodi-v ment of our invention, it is to be understood that various modifications thereof may occur to those skilled in the art which will be within the spirit of our invention and the scope of the appended claims.

What we claim is:

1. In a record shaving machine, the combina tion with a rotatable support for a record to be shaved, of a knife bar, and means for setting said bar in operative position relative to a record on said support and for retracting the bar from such position, said means comprising mechanism for locking said bar as an incidental operation to the operative positioning thereof, said mechanism including a device embodying a lost motion connection and adapted to prevent forward movement of the bar prior to its retraction from operative position.

2. In a record shaving machine, the combination with a rotatable support for a record to be shaved, of a knife bar, means for effecting adjustment of said bar relative to a record on said support and for looking it in an adjusted position, means associated with said bar which when the latter is in adjusted position biases it in the direction of the record, and means responsive to the operation required to unlock the knife bar for overcoming said bias thereby to prevent forward movement of the knife bar under such bias upon the release thereof.

3. In a record shaving machine, the combination with a record support, of a knife bar, and

means for setting and securing said knife bar in an operative position with respect to a record on said support, said means comprising knife bar adjusting and locking mechanism embodying a spring which when the knife bar is in operative position urges the latter toward the record, and means rendered effective in response to the operation of unlocking the knife bar for overcoming the said urge of the spring.

4. In a record shaving machine, the combination with a rotatable support for a record to be shaved, of a knife bar, and mechanism operable to effect the adjustment of said bar to. and the locking thereof in operative'position relative to a record on said support, said mechanism-comprising a device which when said bar is in an adjusted position urges the same towards the record; and means rendered effective in response to the operation of unlocking the knife bar for overcoming such urge on said bar thereby to prevent forward movement of the bar upon the release thereof.

5. In a record shaving machine, the combination with a rotatable support for a record to be shaved, of a knife bar, means for adjusting said knife bar to operative position relative to a record on said support, said means including a resilient device which when said knife bar is in operative position biases the same toward the record, means for locking said bar in an adjusted position, means whereby said locking means is rendered effective as an incident to the operative positioning of the knife bar, and means operative to release said bar and retract it from operative position sequentially and to overcome the forward bias on said bar at all times between the release and subsequent retraction thereof.

6. In a record shaving machine, the combination with a rotatable support for a record to be shaved, of a knife bar, means for adjusting said knife bar to operative'and inoperative positions relative to a record on said support, means for locking said bar in operative position, a lever for effecting and controlling the operation of said adjusting and locking means, said adjusting means including a device which when said bar is in operative position biases the same towards the record, said lever being adapted by a single manipulation to effect the adjustment of said bar to and the locking thereof in operative position, and means interposed between said lever and said bar adapted upon another single manipulation of the lever to effect said operations inversely and to prevent any forward movement of said bar upon the unlocking thereof.

7. In a record shaving machine; the combination with a rotatable support for a record to be shaved; of a knife bar; and means including an actuating lever and adapted upon one manipulation of such lever to effect the adjustment of said bar to and the locking thereof in operative position relative to a record on said support, and upon another manipulation of such lever to effect the unlocking of said bar and the retraction thereof from operative position, said bar when in tion with a record support, of a knife bar, means for effecting movements of said knife bar to operative and inoperative positions relative to a record on said support and the locking of the bar in operative position, said means comprising a lever and resilient means associated with said bar and said lever, said resilient means when the knife bar is in operative position biasing the latter toward the record, and means adapted to restrain the knife bar against movement under said bias, said lever upon movement in one direction first effecting the movement of said bar into operative position and the incidental locking thereof against further movement until released upon a reverse movement of said lever, said reverse movement being attended by an inactive period in the knife bar releasing operation during which said restraining means is rendered effective thereby to prevent any forward motion of said bar prior to its retraction from operative position.

9. In a record shaving machine, the combination with a rotatable support for a record to be shaved, of a knife bar, a lever, a spring-pressed tion relative to a record on said support and the unlocking thereof, said cam being controlled by said locking block and said lever, a pawl for looking said cam against the action of its spring, a bridge member carried by said knife bar and having a part in the path of said cam, and means operable by said lever for effecting the engagement and disengagement of said pawl with said cam, said engagement being effected at the completion of the knife bar locking operation and the disengagement being effected at the beginning of the knife bar unlocking operation, the said cam being engaged with said bridge member through the action of the cam spring in the first part of the unlocking operation whereby movement of the knife bar forwardly of its operative position is prevented.

10. In a record shaving machine; the combination with a rotatable support for a record to be shaved; of a cutter mounted for movement toward and from said support; and mechanism for setting said cutter in operative position relative to a record on said support and for retracting the cutter from such position, said mechanism comprising means for locking the cutter in operative position and a device embodying a lost motion connection adapted to prevent forward movement of the cutter prior to its retraction from operative position.

11. In a record shaving machine, the combination with a rotatable support for a record to be shaved, of a cutter, means for adjusting said cutter to operative and inoperative positions relative to a record on said support and for locking the same in operative position, an actuating member for effecting and controlling the operation of said adjusting and locking means, said means including a device which when said cutter is in operative position biases the same towards the record, said actuating member being adapted by a single manipulation to effect the adjustment of said cutter to and the locking thereof in operative position, and means associated with said actuating member and cutter adapted upon another single manipulation of the actuating member to effect said operations inversely and to prevent any forward movement of said cutter upon the unlocking thereof.

12. In a record shaving machine; the combination with a rotatable support for a record to be shaved; of a cutter; and means including an actuating member adapted upon one manipulation to effect the adjustment of said cutter to and the locking thereof in operative position relative to a record on said support, and upon another manipulation to effect the unlocking of said cutter and the retraction thereof from operative position, said cutter when in operative position being biased toward the record, said means also including cooperative elements capable of relative movement, said elements providing between said actuating member and cutter a lost motion which is effective in the initial phase of the unlocking operation to delay the release of said cutter until one of said elements is positioned to coact with the cutter thereby to prevent movement of the latter, upon the release thereof, toward the record.

13. In arecord shaving machine; the combination with a record support; of a cutter; and mechanism for effecting movements of said cutter to operative and inoperative positions relative to a record on said support and the locking of the cutter in operative position, said mechanism comprising an actuating member, resilient means adapted when the cutter is in operative position to bias the latter toward the record, and means adapted to restrain the cutter against movement under said bias, said actuating member upon movement in one direction first effecting movement of said cutter to operative position and the incidental locking thereof against further movement until released upon a reverse movement of such member, said reverse movement be- I ing attended by an inactive period in the cutter releasing operation during which said restraining means is rendered effective thereby to prevent any forward movement of said cutter prior to its retraction from operative position.

14. In a record shaving machine; the combination with a rotatable support for a record to be shaved; of a cutter mounted for movement toward and from said support; and mechanism which is operable to effect the adjustment of the cutter to and the locking thereof in operative po sition relative to a record on said support and which is also operable to effect the unlocking of the cutter and its subsequent retraction from operative position, said mechanism including means constantly biasing the cutter toward said support and means rendered effective in response to the operation of unlocking the cutter for overcoming such bias thereby to prevent movement of the cutter toward said support upon the release of the cutter.

CHARLES HUENLICH. HEINRICH F. MAX GRAMANN. 

